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Facebook Removed Seven Million Posts In Second Quarter For False Coronavirus Info (reuters.com) 169

Facebook said on Tuesday it removed 7 million posts in the second quarter for sharing false information about the novel coronavirus, including content that promoted fake preventative measures and exaggerated cures. Reuters reports: It released the data as part of its sixth Community Standards Enforcement Report, which it introduced in 2018 along with more stringent decorum rules in response to a backlash over its lax approach to policing content on its platforms. The world's biggest social network said it would invite proposals from experts this week to audit the metrics used in the report, beginning in 2021. It committed to the audit during a July ad boycott over hate speech practices.

The company removed about 22.5 million posts with hate speech on its flagship app in the second quarter, a dramatic increase from 9.6 million in the first quarter. It attributed the jump to improvements in detection technology. It also deleted 8.7 million posts connected to "terrorist" organizations, compared with 6.3 million in the prior period. It took down less material from "organized hate" groups: 4 million pieces of content, compared to 4.7 million in the first quarter. The company does not disclose changes in the prevalence of hateful content on its platforms, which civil rights groups say makes reports on its removal less meaningful.

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Facebook Removed Seven Million Posts In Second Quarter For False Coronavirus Info

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  • 7mil Not enough (Score:2, Insightful)

    by DogDude ( 805747 )
    And it obviously wasn't nearly enough. Just read the wacko posts in this thread, for example.
  • Maybe it's time (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by roc97007 ( 608802 )

    Maybe it's time for Facebook to become a public utility like power or water instead of a for-profit company. They arguably have a monopoly on what they do.

  • by fygment ( 444210 ) on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @06:11AM (#60393051)

    Several months ago it was believed that a person who was asymptomatic could not be a spreader of COVID. That was impossible according to the experts. Now it has been discovered that in fact some people can co-exist with the virus, basically they are virus factories while not experiencing any symptoms.

    The 'truth' didn't change, it just wasn't all known and probably still isn't. AND IF YOU AREN'T PERCEIVED AS AN APPROPRIATE SOURCE OF TRUTH YOU CAN HAVE NO VOICE.

    Not sure if that's good or bad. It is what it is.

    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Wednesday August 12, 2020 @07:34AM (#60393183)

      Theres a difference. When someone adjusts their position based on new information they are still on the side of truth, when some whackjob points to old discredited information as gospel and reshares it in a current context then it is no longer truth, it is a lie and a sign of ideology rather than science.

    • Several months ago it was believed that a person who was asymptomatic could not be a spreader of COVID. That was impossible according to the experts.

      Find me an example of where experts said it was impossible. Not "unlikely", or "unexpected", or "not thought to be a problem", but "impossible".

      I'm deeply skeptical of your claim.

    • Several months ago it was believed that a person who was asymptomatic could not be a spreader of COVID.

      I don't recall anyone having said that. I have quite a few friends at the CDC and they certainly weren't saying that internally.

  • All the posts that Facebook removed should be made available in some way along with the justification for each removal. If they are going to police public speech, the public needs to be able to police them.
    • That's not Facebook's job. People can post that stuff on their own websites, though. You should encourage people who have had their material removed from Facebook to post it somewhere else.

  • Does anyone have a list of some of the preventative measures and cures that were targeted during the take-down? My mom is 100% convinced by one of those unproven cures and that Bill Gates is suppressing that information to further the ends of a pretty out-there conspiracy theory. I've been trying to talk sense into her, as her sources are speculative at best and are often (especially the ones re: Gates) complete fabrications. She has often cited Facebook's and YouTube's take-downs as evidence of this gra
  • "Facebook removed 7 million posts in quarter second" would be real news for nerds.
  • Rather they were memes making fun of the false claims and the idiots who share them.

    Facebook's algorithm, quite literally, has no sense of humor at all, and can't distinguish between actual satire vs actually fake news.

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